Narendi's Exchange Stories in POLAND

Narendi Muhandri, 21, AIESEC LC Bandung

Industrial Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology

“Enter Your Future” – AIESEC LC Krakow, Poland

It is said that there would be a workshop on 16-17 May 2011, before the project started. I came here in Krakow on Sunday afternoon, 15 May. I got picked by Marina from LC Krakow. I asked her about the workshop but she doesn't know about that. She just said that there will be another Aiesecer will come with other EPs and will tell me everything. I was the first one in this project come to the dorm. I lived in a room for 3 people and when I came, there were other EPs from different project, kindergarten. All of them are girls. While I was waiting for my project mate, we had a nice talk in my friend's room, about our country and its culture. Finally, I had a roommate from Ireland at night, Declan. I also met another Aiesecer, Aga, who told us that our OCP will come the next day and tell us all the information.

Monday morning, me and Dec still clueless about our program. Therefore we decided to take a walk around to look for internet cable. At the afternoon, our OCP came with other EPs and took us for integration meeting at the city centre. We went to some club near the main square. Most of the clubs here are located underground. It is also said that Krakow Main Square in the city centre is the largest in Europe! 

On Tuesday we went to Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny W Krakowie (UEK) for our
workshop. It wasn’t workshop as I expected before. At that moment, there were only five people attended, from Brazil, Hungary, Georgie, and Me & Dec. Three Aiesecer gave us presentation about Poland, Aiesec, and LC Krakow. They told us our schedule for the next two day at school. First day was for country presentation, and second day about communication and time management.

After the workshop, we went to other side of UEK, where bungee jumping area located. At that time, there was Juwenalia. It is a week of student festival that consists a lot of activities, music performances, and carnaval. Bungee jumping area is one of the program. It was not in any kind of high building, nor bridge, nor river. The bungee jumping held at the campus area, in a crane! That was not many people accepted this challenge. Only me, Iza, and Dec who were jumped.

On our first day, we got accompanied by Irina from Aiesec. The name was Gymnazium no.9. The teachers were very welcome to us, even mostly they don’t speak english but they’re really try to communicate to us. We started our presentation by give them trivia quiz about our country. Each of us told two facts about our country, and the students have to guess which one is true which one is false. Then we presented our country with some videos, and close the session with questions. Surprisingly, my first question I got was “who is your God?”….. I thought its more about Indonesian -,- After that, we asked them to make a small group discussion about our country and they have to tell us about Polish as well. But still, because the students don’t speak english well, and maybe they’re shy, so not many students involved.

On the second day, we’re supposed to talk about communication and time management. Second workshop we had was quite short, and we decided to create our own workshop for the students. And so we divided each three of us preparing material and the games.

We began our class by Sasha’s presentation about Ukraine. He didn’t make any ppt, he just talk some things about Ukraine, because he thinks Poland-Ukraine is so similar so not much to tell. But, he brought traditional Ukrainean clothes. We wanted the students to be surprised, so after he presented, we asked him to go out class and change his clothes into Ukrainean clothes. While he was changing, we created a break-ice game, “Tik-Tok.”

We played the game in a circle. First person have to give the “pen” (or whatever thing) to the next person. The next person should ask first “what is this?” and give it back to the first person. The first person will answer “this is tik” and give it back again to the next person. The next person should give to the other next person, and so on.

The “tik-tok” game is created to start “communication” as well. We talked about meanings, portion, body language, and eye contact. We also showed video about body language.

For tima management game, we asked someone to make a paper plan. Then he will ask some other persons to create the same paper plan by his order. We counted paper plans that have been made in some time. The next part, he will start to make the paper plans in first step, and the other persons will continue in sequential. The aim of this game is about efficiency specialization. Flavio was the one who gave this idea. Maybe because he studies Industrial Engineering which we learned about that :D After we finished our class, we were invited to play the basketball with them.

At night, the Aiesecer asked us to watch some Polish Concert, still part of Juvenalia, so everyday will be some events at each university. Before we go to the concert, everybody bought drink first, since its not allowed to drink during the concert area. And we played some drinking game, which is called “Bitches bitches”. We had our nickname, clap your hand, and then you call another nickname, and then continue.. The one who missed the tempo or call wrong name or who didn’t realize been called, should drink *nangkep ga?* the game called “bitches bitches* caused you have your “dirty” nickname which is held to make the game fun and funnier :p

Still about juwenalia festival!! On friday there was this parade for all students in each university. They wore unique costumes and made parade to the city centre, and then there’s some concert in the main square. Kostumnya macem-macem dr yg superman, pirates, roman emperor, naughty nurse, ghosts, or some japanese/some other cultures. We had friday as day off so we fortunately able to see this :D

After seeing the festival for a while, I went to say my Friday prayer. When I report myself (lapor diri) to KBRI, they gave me some contacts number of Indonesian people around Krakow. So I texted mas Anggana, who’s worked here and live with his family to ask how to say my prayer. 

Don’t be surprised if you won’t do your prayer in a mosque. Since the population of moslem here quite small, tempatnya juga kecil. They said, maybe the population of moslem is not that small, but the people who say prayer regularly is small. Jadi yg gw temukan adalah 25 orang saja utk sholat jumat!! They keep saying “assalamualaikum brother” to every people.

We said our prayer in some building, quite near to the main square. So I was cabut bentar dr festival utk sholat ini. Ruangannya underground, dan klo dibayangin cuma semacam musholla di GKU Barat ITB dgn ukuran lebih besar. Somehow I feel more alive whenever I meet indonesian people or moslem people, it means I’m not alone here :”p

At night, there was this “Night of the Museums” in Krakow. We can only pay 1zloty (3ribuan) to go to the all museums around at night. So around city centre there was a lot of people queueing to enter museums. Quite surprise, we don’t have this kind of events in Indonesia, yes? And even we have this, how will our people be participated?

Minggu malemnya, sang ocp dtg ke dorm. Tiba-tiba bilang, krn bsok snin ada 2 cw dr China dtg, dia minta ada 3 org cowo yg pindah ke flat biar si cw-cw ini bs tinggal di dorm dan bisa integration sm kita. Setelah perdebatan panjang, ni cowo-cowo ga ada yg mau pindah, tmen2 dormmate jg gamau ada yg pisah, akhirnya dikasih lah kita ga pindah dan si cw2 ini yg dpt di flat. Cw cina ini dtg ke dorm ga dijemput, trus yg seharusnya jemput dia jg kyknya gatau klo she supposed to live in flat, not dorm.. Akhirnya mlm dia beres2 pindah ke flat, trus ngomel deh krn kondisinya lebih jelek dr dorm. Sebenernya sih macem kosan di bandung yg rumahnya udh dr taun 90an, kondisi kmrnya debu dan berantakan sampah jg, cuma di HongKong lebih bagus kali ya dan udh liat dorm jd cukup mengeluhkan kondisi kamar.

Di minggu kedua, sekolah kedua ini suasananya beda dr sekolah pertama. Klo sekarang kita ga terlalu diperatiin sm guru-gurunya, entah ga bisa bhs Inggris apa gmn, makan juga ditinggal aja kita. Trus krn anak-anaknya udh lebih gde, sekitar SMA, jd kita nyiapin materi baru. Ada yg kasih presentation skill, job interview, sm CV.. Ini sih kita improve aja krn kan ga mungkin dikasih game yg sama.. Makanan di sekolah-sekolah selalu menyenangkan dan dinanti. Kita dpt 2 dish, set pertama soup, set kedua heavy meal. Cuma krn sering ada babi jd kdg-kdg gw cm makanin potato and saladnya.

Akhir weekend kedua ada Reception Weekend, jd EP dr LC LC lain pd ngumpul. Acara pertamanya jumat mlm ke klubs. Di sini akhirnya gw ketemu sm Monica, EP yg di LC Lodz. Sabtu jam10an harusnya ada city quest di city square, cuma krn mlmnya abis party ampe pagi, jd pada ga ada yg bangun paginya, haha.. Akhirnya gw sm temen2 project join acara dinner di traditional polish restraurant. Judulnya sih dinner, pdhal makan jam3, and btw, org-org sini klo ngomong maksi juga seringnya dinner.. Ternyata city questnya memang batal, setengah group peserta reception weekend yg tinggal di hostel pd kabur ke salt mine ga bilang2, jd anak LC sini sempet bete jg.

Abis makan itu gw sempet mampir bentar ke hostel mereka, ngumpul2 ngobrol2.. Mlmnya ada party on a boat for Aiesecer. Tp ini boatnya ga jalan kok, cuma mangkal di sungai di Krakow sini. Minggunya kita ke Oswieciem / Auschwitz, concentration nazi camp, around 1.5 jam by bus from Krakow. Berangkatnya sempet ketinggalan bus, jd nunggu sejaman dulu busnya, trus kesiangan sampe, krn tournya kelilingnya lama, beresnya sore, kita ketinggalan bus (lagi) buat balik ke Krakow. Akhirnya nyarter minibus buat balik krakow malem.

Second Week 

Dua minggu ke depan ini kita dpt sekolah yg sama, cuma dpt kelasnya beda-beda tergantung guru englishnya. Sekolahnya yg ini cukup gede, smp-sma bareng kyknya makanya banyak kelasnya jd kira-kira satu group consists of 4/3 person dpt 2 hari di satu guru. Hari Senin pertama di sekolah ini, yg berhasil berangkat pagi cuma 3 org, gw Dec, and Flavio, pdhal harusnya 6 org untuk 2 group. Karena memang info suka mendadak juga, jd minggu malem kita pulang dari Auschwitz itu br diemailin lg klo sekolah ini udh pernah kedatangan orang dari Ukraine, Georgia, and China. Alhasil mgkn krn pd capek jg minggunya, senin pagi pd susah bgn org-org dr negara ini. Hr kedua br dtg 7 org deh, pdhal harusnya 6 :p

Senin mlm ada 2 org cw Ukraine di project lain dorm-mate juga, pulang, beres projectnya. Mereka ini biasanya yg suka ngajak-ngajak pergi, tau tempat-tempat jg krn udh lebih lama. Akhirnya beberapa hr berikutnya tiap malem kita pd mendem di kosan aja, bagus jg sekalian istirahat dan hemat :D nah hari kamisnya pas lg break time, si Dec main basket sm anak-anak sini, dia salah jatoh kyknya (wkt itu gw lg di kmr mandi jd ga liat) then he got dislocated knee. Pulang dr sekolah dr dorm kita lgsg cari taxi buat pergi ke dokter. Supir taxinya nganterin ke hospital lumayan dket jg dr dorm. Hospitalnya lebih kecil dr boromeus, dan agak lebih serem sih suasanya menurut gw. hehe. bukan serem hantu, tp kyk lebih rapi boromeus. Naudzubillah, mdh2an gw (and other EPs) sehat-sehat aman-aman aja ga ush berurusan sm rumah sakit, soalnya org-orgnya ngomong polish. Untung akhirnya di dlm ada kayak dokter muda pernah magang di Ireland jd bisa jelasin jg ke si Dec ini. Seinget gw biaya tindakan emergency termasuk gips kaki dan x-ray ga terlalu mahal, 300 zloty apa ya (900rb?) tp obatnya yg agak mahal ktnya, soalnya dikasih suntik buat bbrp hari.

Sabtunya kita diminta isi presentasi culture shock di acara OPSnya LC sini. Gw pilih shift yg pagi, brg sama anak Ukraine + Hungary. Krn mereka dr yurop2 juga jd kayaknya ga terlalu culture shock jg sih, jd gw yg rada diminta ngomong, bentar sih jatah kita setngah jam doang. OPS wkt LCC berguna bgt jadi bahan omongan ;p Mostly wkt shift gw kayaknya peserta MT deh, udh agak gde2 soalnya, and they said mostly go to Asia, kyknya china/thailand.

Selasa sempet diminta VP OGX yg ktemu wkt OPS ini buat dtg di some meetingnya LC sini, presentasi ttg country and @ XP. Wkt itu yg diminta Flavio, trus dia ngajak gw ikutan. Rabunya gw dpt kelas yg sama kyk minggu lalu, krn teachernya ini, Mrs. Dorota udh kenal sm group gw, dia jg semacam koordinator project Aiesec di sekolah ini, jd dia minta kita masuk lg. Nah skrg giliran kita yg dpt presentasi dr kelasnya. Mrk yg presentasi ttg Poland, sama bkin small group discussion ttg personal/country, and even they made us this Poland apple pie, sm kelas ini kasih coklat ke Dec.. mgkn krn wkt itu main basketnya sm kelas ini so they kinda worried about Dec :D

Weekend kita trip to Budapest. Temengw ada yg mau cabut ambil project sports camp di Greece, jd dia invite us to come to Budapest, ber 8 minus Dec + satu cw di flat + 2 aiesecer sini. Brktnya 2 mobil, satu mobil anak Budapest ini satu lg mobil anak Aiesec. Brktnya mampir Zvolen, Slovakia buat maksi sm keliling bentar. Perjalanannya kira-kira 6-7 jam. Sabtunya kita ikutan free walk tour sini sama sight seeing lg. Krn mobilnya cuma ada 1, akhirnya gw & 3 org lainnya pulang naik bus duluan, krn jadwalnya cuma satu jam 7 pagi. Busnya sih enak very comfortable, dpt hot chocolate sm headset krn ada inflight movies (the proposal and 2 lagi ga jelas sih tp trus gw tidur jg jd ga nyimak).

After these second two weeks, still mostly we go to school present our country, cukup berbeda sm TN Form yaaa. We all have different reality from our previous expectation, dan udh jd jokes kita jg, haha. Yeah because it depends on the OCP, the schools, and us as an EP as well.

Tyas's Exchange Story in POLAND

Dwi Sasetyaningtyas, 18, AIESEC LC Bandung

Chemical Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology

AIESEC LC Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland

It was my own decision to join the internship program from AIESEC during summer 2011. I think i would be great if i could live far away from my comfrot zone to get some new experiences with people from different countries. I got two projects from AIESEC LC Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland. “Live and Learn” and “International Summer Semi Camps”. I love these projects, i got lovely new friends and family from them. Not only amazing experiences, I also had some obstacles in these projects and it made me learned how to deal with problems and being a problem solver.

“Live and Learn” – my first Project

I started my internship on June 2011. This project gave me chances to teach english and indonesian culture to children in some kindergartens in Wroclaw, Poland.  I worked here with just one Exchange Participant from Singapore, her name is Jay. But we worked in different kindergartens, and unfortunately we also lived in different place. This condition made me didn’t have much time to interract with Jay (the EP from Singapore), sometimes we had dinner together but not everyday because she lived far away from me. I also had a very nice EP Buddy, her name is Milena Lech, she helped me a lot, she took me around Wroclaw, we bought ice creams, we did a Barbeque etc. My OCP’s name is Michal, i didn’t have much time to spend together with him, but he also took me and jay around the city and gave us a city map. He introduced me to other exchange participants from ET program and then we become friends until the end of the projects. They are from Tunisia, China, Canada, Portugal, and USA. We spent great time together in Wroclaw or we travelled to some places on the weekend, for examples Prague and Krakow. 

 a photo of me, jay, some EP from ET’s program and my EP buddy, Milena.

A photo of me and EP from ET’s progam.

  My first kindergarten was amazing, i met very nice , smart and lovely students. They learned english very well , i taught them english with songs and games. The challenge here was no one speaks english, including the headmaster. So, it was really good experience to talk without words with Polish people.

A Photo of my first kindergarten students

In my second kindergartens the children are smaller, that’s why i had to make new materials for younger and smaller children. The teachers in my secon kindergarten speak english very well, we had really great time together with children.

A Photo of my second kindergarten students

I had some problems from this project. First time i came to the city i stayed in Milena’s flat for one night. Everything was nice until i knew that they haven’t paid my dorm. I thought everything should be done before i came to Poland, maybe there was some problems with the OCP and finance or others. After a week or more, the lady from my dorm got angry, she said that AIESEC hasn’t paid for the dorm. It was my first problem in this project. But, Milena and Michal took over the problem very well and the problem solved. Anothe problem i had was my OCP, Michal, suddenly stopped the project and asked me to move to another project for two weeks. In this new project i had to move to 2 other cities for 2 weeks and worked with new exchange participants from Ukraine and Vietnam. I knew about this changing of the project in very last time , so i had to prepare my self and prepare some materials for the summercamps. I took over this changing of the project very well.

“International Summer Semi Camps”-my second project

 This was my second project after “live and learnd” project. I had my OCP here, his name is Martin. In this project i worked with two nice girls. Anna the Ukrainian girl and Thao the vietnamese girl. 

A photo of me, Martin, Anna, Thao and staffs of the project

 Our first place to work was in Kamienna Gora, it’s about 2 hours by Bus from Wroclaw. We spent great time together with children in the camp and also we met very nice manager of the camp, her name is Magda. She and her family welcomed us very well. We shared our culture, food, religions, many things. Magda and her family always took us in different places after work. They took me, Anna and Thao went around the city, went to colorful lake near the city, a very nice church and they also took us to the mountain. Kamienna gora ‘s like my second home, and Magda’s family is like my second family. Thao and I also cooked our traditional foods for this family.

A photo of me, Anna, Thao and Magda’s family

For the children, i taught them english with tradtional games from Indonesia and english songs. I talked a lot of things about Indonesia everyday. We talked about Indonesian tourism, languages, foods and drinks, clothes, dances, etc. Even we played Angklung (a tradtional bamboo intrument from West Java, Indonesia) and traditional puppet called Wayang Golek very well. We went to miniatur park, rode horses, and other fun activities.

A photo of me and children in Kamienna Gora playing traditional game called Ular Naga

A photo of my students playing tradtional puppet called Wayang Golek

Actually i worked in Kamienna Gora for one week then i had to move to Olesnica, but unfortunately i wasn’t in a good condition in my very last day in Kamienna Gora, so i decided to stay in Kamienna gora for 2 days then moved to Olesnica. I felt bad that i couldn’t go to Olesnica on time and i couldn’t deliver all of my materials. But I still had really great time there with nice family and children.

 In Olesnica i stayed in the headmaster’s house. I had really great time with her daughter. Her name is Ola. Ola took me around the city and i also cooked indonesian food for Ola and her family. I taught Ola to play Congklak, a traditional game from Indonesia. My students and I also played Angklung in the school. We went to a swimming pool, we played a traditional game calles Gobak Sodor, we had a barbeque in the school, we made animals from special gel to make balloon (i brought it from Indonesia, it is made in Indonesia), etc. 

A photo of my students in Olesnica playing Angklung

A photo of me, my students and the headmaster.

I didn’t have any problems from this project, i only had so much fun with new family , new students and new friends here. Everything was great for me until i had to go back to Wroclaw and had my farewell with people there.

In the end, the internship is over, but friendship and experiences stay as an adoreable memory. I met really nice, great and inspiring people that i won’t forget in my life. This internship also gave me a chance to develop my self, improving my english, gaining my self confidence and learn how to interract with other people from different backgrounds and be a problem solver for my problems, futhermore, people’s problems. So, GO EXCHANGE! And have your own adorable life changing experience!!

Astri's Exchange Story in TAIWAN

May 22, 2011.

After the 1 hour delay in Hongkong (because of the bad weather), i finally arrived in Taiwan at around 4 pm. At the airport, i was greeted by Wenda and Tina who was holding a paper with “Astri” written on it :D . At first we went by bus to the city, and then with the MRT to Shillin station. I was carrying 3 bags with me: 1 20 kg luggage, 1 duffel bag, and 1 laptop bag. They were SO heavy and dragging them around the mrt station was tiring! Thankfully, Wenda and Tina helped, they carried my laptop bag & duffel bag so i only had to drag the heavy luggage (with the wheels broken!).

I forgot which MRT station we went first, but later we went to shillin station where i was picked up by Xishan elementary principal: ms. Cheng and the dean, Andy. We had a talk, arranging my homestay for 2 days before i move into a dorm. So in the end, they decided i was to stay at the xishan teacher’s house , Joy, for 2 nights.

We went to Joy’s house, and there i was introduced to her family:  children Debra & Daniel and her husband Luke. They were amazing! I became friends with Debra instantly, because we have so much in common and i also learned that she goes to the same university as my friend, in Canada.

For dinner we all went to a restaurant (i dont remember the name) where we ate these 5 course meal. I WAS SO FULL by the end of it. After dinner me and debra went to the night market, and stayed there until 11 o’clock. I LOVE THE NIGHT MARKET!!!! 

I love Taiwan~ the people are just so friendly ^^

May 23

This is the first day of my teaching in Xishan elementary. I was sooo nervous! 

Soon i learned that the school is small: only 1 class each grade, and only around 12 students in each class. The students were so cute! I introduced myself infront of them at the school field, and afterwards they asked me questions. The questions were funny, like “do you have a boyfriend?” “what kind of animal do you like?” and stuff.

My first class was the 2nd grade. They were learning the months in english, so we sang a song.

next was 5th grade, we watched a health drama by the nurse, informing the students they need calcium and healthy food to grow tall. The nurses also wore costumes (mario bros, hobbit) to attract the students which was brilliant!

The last class was the 6th grade. They were REALLY hyperactive, and when we played the name game, they couldnt stay still! I lost the game twice, once cos i forgot Emmy’s name and in the end i had to kiss her on the cheek. And the other time i had to write a mandarin word with my LEFT HAND.

Tiring day but i had fun!

May 25

OKAAAAY~ so i moved into my dorm yesterday. I live at Wesley Girls’ High School’s teacher’s dorm. It’s the single dormitory (with 3 dorms) but no one lives there, so i live alone. No roomate, no tv and no internet connection. FANTASTIC.

At first it was scary, cos i’m not used to living alone, i always have people around me so being alone was somewhat scary and lonely. I was bored and had nothing to do, so i watched The Big Bang theory dvd i brought with me. I watched a couple of videos and then fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night though, and couldnt fall back asleep so i called my friend, Nick (in Indonesia).

Oh yeah! Today Tim, a 6th grade student, came up to my office and gave me cookies! He was soooo sweet~ i kept the cookies in my desk, but my co worker, Jack, ate one of them without me knowing (he didnt know it was mine). He then gave me a mango candy to make up for it. The principal also bought me 2 mugs because i said i needed glasses in my dorm. She’s SO NICE! I was gonna buy myself but she bought it for me instead.

After school today, i went to Carrefour at zhishan (i think?) and bought lots of things. For the first time i went by the bus and MRT by myself! It was FUN!

Everyone’s so friendly at Xishan! The teachers are so nice, and even the student’s parents asked if i wanted to go somewhere with them.

May 27

I dont have any class today, so i just finished my culture powerpoint and drew 2 patterns of batik for next Art class. The dean from Wesley also came to Xishan to discuss the possibility of me coming to Wesley and give them culture studies. I didn’t mind so we fixed a schedule.

JJ, Kyle (3rd grade) mom came to the office today and we talked about the culture ppt. She’s gonna be my translator for the 3rd grade class, so we discussed the ppt and she also invited me to go to a summer festival thing in June, but i already made plans with my friend so i had to decline. That was very nice of her though, and i hope i can go out with her some other time 

ANDD~ we had AIESEC MCLC welcoming party! It was GREAAAAT! I met a lot of people ^^

At first it was awkward because i dont know anyone, but after we introduced ourselves i became more comfortable and just enjoyed the rest of the evening. Befriended so many people like Stan, Ben, Till, Pierre, Rita, Flora, Yoyo, Jamie, Daniel, Chloe, Margo, Cindy and lots more^^ they were so nice! We played games, listened to some stories from the sharing session, etc. Oh, dinner was DELICIOUS!

I had to leave the party early though, cos i had a bus to catch (9.30) so me, Daniel and Pierre left earlier- accompanied by Jamie and Yoyo.  We went to Yuanshan MRT and seperated there. I went with the same MRT as Pierre though, so we talked for the rest of the trip home. He’s hilarious, i asked why his english is unlike the other French people i know, and then he changed his accent into a French one on purpose. Haha. “I can talk like this no problem!”

I can’t wait to meet the MCLC people again! So fun! Now i have more friends! YAAAY~

May 29

Today i had SO MUCH FUN!

I went out the whole day with my xishan co workers, Jack, trina, louis, fina and Jay.  We gathered at shillin MRT station at 9 am, then we went to Chiang Kai Shek’s residential place and took lots of pics! After that we ate lunch : pearl tea & beef noodle. SO YUMMY~

Then  we went to Longshan temple, i observed the place and took lots of pictures, From there we went to Ximen where i bought 2 pair of glasses, and a food bag. After that we went to the presidential palace (Jack knows the place so well because he was a guard or something when he served his time at the military) We also took many pics at the old town.

Around 6 pm or 7 pm we went to Shillin night market. Louis, fina and jack were tired and not interested so only me, trina and jay remained. We shopped and ate a lot! I also bought A LOT of things. Omg i think i spent too much. Oh well, i was happy anyway ^^

We called it a night at 9 or around 10. My legs hurt SO bad! They were really sore from all the walking T____T

June 2

Today i had to teach 2 classes, originally it was 3 but the morning class got cancelled. So i only thought art for the 3rd grader and also sociology (culture studies). 

For the art class we made batik pattern, they could draw anything as long as there’s some dots or swirls covering the page so it’s kind of like a batik pattern. During culture studies, i introduced indonesian culture, they were very enthusiastic! Especially because i put so many videos, they kept asking me to repeat the video. They also asked a lot of questions, and this time they werent “do you eat snake?” “do you like cockroach?” their questions were actually very good. They asked a lot of things about indonesia, like what kind of religion most people believe in? What’s the meaning of the traditional dance? Etc.

At 5 pm, i went to Jiantan MRT station to meet Jo to discuss about the english camp. After i met up with her, we went to ming chuan university where i met new people, like victor, cindy etc. We discussed the schedule, what kind of food i’d make etc. We also went to the computer building where i FINALLY got internet connection (at night) so i chatted with my friend for a while, as well as continue discussing the games and rundown for the english camp.

Around 7.30 i left because i was meeting Adi (also an EP) at NTU MRT. I met with adi and we went to Dingxi where we met his coworkers: Vivienne and Peter. We went through the night market there, we talked, ate, looked around. It was fun! I made new friends again ^^

June 3

Today, i did  a presentation for the whole school, from grade 1 – 6 at the recreation center. Because ive done quite a lot of presentation, i wasnt nervous anymore. The kids were VERY hyperactive, thankfully my co worker Jack  ke[t reminding them to be quiet and throw candies to get their attention once in a while. I also wore my traditional skirt, a batik skirt and the kids liked it very much

I played a lot of videos. Because the kids seem more interested that way, and sure enough they were very happy 

Today’s the last day before the dragon boat festival, so ill be back at school in Tuesday. I think im gonna go to carrefour today to buy some supplies. Haha 

EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITY IN POLAND

Have you ever thought about coming to POLAND during the european summer?

do you want to get to know new awesome people ? 

discover different cultures in Poland and Europe ? 

Work with students from Polish schools. Get involved and share your experiences with people of different attitudes, opinions and more!

 

Join Enter Your Future Project in Rzeszow, Poland. 

Enter Your Future is a project invented and organized by AIESEC in Poland in order to give young students inspiration to be entrepreneurial and have better understanding of the world and other cultures, motivate them to do more, give them impulse to think. All of that will be happening during workshops in junior high and high schools in totally diversified multinational environment. 

 what will you do ? 

You will:
- prepare context and agenda for trainings,

- lead trainings for students of school and develop their knowledge in entrepreneurship and cultural understanding,

- facilitate group work during the trainings,

- prepare and facilitate team management with groups of students.

Workshops will be led in a schedule:

1 school per 1 week,  from monday till friday, approximately 20 hours weekly.

When?

The project will take place from 19th of sepember till 31th october 2011. 

 

 Where?

In Rzeszów, a city in south-eastern part of Poland 

Click here !

here for video about the city and here for more video

Want to know more about AIESEC in Rzeszow ? do click here

GRAB THIS OPPORTUNITY FAST ! 

Contact : Tazkya F (081809470784) to have the form and the deadline for submission is 15th of August 2011 

 

Yunida's Exchange Stories in THAILAND

Life As It Is

Bangkok Journey

It’s been two weeks running to be one of Bangkok’s member societies, just say as if there’s certain member of that. What a wonderful place I’ve been living at. I live in heart beat of Thailand, Bangkok, when smile and wai are in every single corner of this city. I see various faces, dreams and expectation in here. I want the world know what I feel or what is popped up in my mind bout this nameless journey. But shame on me, it’s been two weeks and I still get nothing to share but white screen of Microsoft word on my laptop. Super blank.

I always want myself to become a writer someday. But instead of let my self write something, I just keep on pushing in places of blank appears. Well,I am not really good at creating diary, thought my chief delegates keep remembering me all the time to start making of mine but as she keep pushing me to do, as far I keep myself not to do so. 555! (inthai 5 = ha) What a word to say, make it simple, I start avoiding my self to do anything but spoiling myself in dark graveyard. I’m totally not acting as a productive one. I start to become lazy in Bangkok, pushing my books away and not read it well, or even just start tabbing the internet for unreasonable surfing. What are you doing Yuyu? I start questioning myself bout that. But now on, I start to make a compulsory of my story being in Bangkok for about 2 weeks, hope it’ll be something valuable not only for me but also for you, hope.

Start with our arrival on June 14 2011. What a wonderful experience having an arrival in one of kind airport, Suvarnabhumi Bangkok. You can see the differences between Indonesia Airport and this airport. Same international airport but taste so differently. Can you see that, our country needs a lot of improvement? Yeah we are bit left behind. But another shame that I gain, I forgot to take a picture of that. To let you see how different it is. What a shame. But I’ll let you know if I come back to Indonesia. Cross finger ^^v

  Before the plane took off from Indonesia’s airport, our beloved SoekarnoHatta airport, I and the other delegates took some of pictures to remind. See that we all were so exited to have a face to face meeting with magnificent Bangkok and other delegates from ASEAN member. Some of the picture somehow shows how immature we acted like.

I can see people have various expectation, hope and dreams bout this journey. Some even have planned to dare themselves bout anything, from travelling challenges or even something more extreme from this exquisite country. Like taste extreme food, shopping till drop in many places or just taking mounted of picture in every spot.But some of them are the kind who just let their live be. Just let it be and I am kind of one of them. The one who said just let all things be. I get not much dream to chase from this journey, not even to have travel experience in here. One thing I dream to see is only Masjid in Bangkok. Oh Rabb, I just dream to see You in Your home in this country, Thailand. Just it, and the rest just feel more like bonus from me. So start with this one-only-mission, I let the rest thing happen in my life flow through wherever it goes. 

Took off from Indonesia at almost 5pm with “everyone can fly” airlines. I am never afraid to fly. Suggestion from me for who afraid of having flight, Just take it as one of places that dare you more bouts high, just like one which you can see in DUFAN. The turbulence is just one of challenge that you should fight during your play, during the game. So instead of getting scared too much, I put my self in learning-thai language situation more. I borrowed my chief’s book to have something to write; later on it will be my pocket dictionary series of thai.  Some words that need to be learnt if you are in Bangkok. 

I copied all of the word to my lil dictionary

And all of thai word that I learnt, I put them in lil’ note that my friend gave me as a present. Here it is, a lil’ dictionary of mine. Not really good to be true but its fine anyway. It has saved me from series of lost in Bangkok. Newsflash, at least you should some of the word to greet people, say thank you and ask or give direction and one thing for sure is for your bargain moment. 

  

That’s my little purple dictionary. 

I didn’t take many pictures to show. I let it is documented with other lenses or I just keep it to be memorized in my own mind. You probably can see more picture of me in the other lenses of my fellows rather than in my own lenses one. 

Since I get super blank episode during my first two weeks in Bangkok, therefore I can’t show detail story that I’ve been trough. So I randomly pick those memories that I want you to know. 

I’ve through a lot of series story of joy, laugh, weird moment, loneliness and even tears. Start with my sick, having cough along the conference run or even losing my appetite since not really comfortable with the smell of the food. I barely just eat bread for about 3 days. I predict just because I don’t really like the smell from what the street vendor display in their booth along the way to go to my apartment. There are a lot street vendor with various dish and meal and also various smell to breath. Oh god, I don’t know which smell that contaminated me the most. But that’s already passed anyway; I find my appetite back since the day I can see “Halal” symbol embed in the store or on the cover of food. What a silly me, how come the smell distract the eyes to see something clearly. Thank Lord; you lead me the way to eat well. 

Before I had conference to go, all delegates from local committee of Chulalongkorn University (CU for short) were invited to come to their open house of CU’s student club. They’re having the recruitment session for the freshmen student. Seem like “OPEN HOUSE UNIT” in ITB. I could see many clubs are typically similar to what we have in Indonesia, especially in ITB. The clubs are distributed based on religion, talent, and interest. So pick one that you can enjoy the most. 

Here are some pictures that I can document during the event.

Inside The building

  

With some student in CU

Learn how to play Kecapi in Thailand version (nice ^^)

The thing that interests me the most during in the university is uniform. Yeah..All undergraduate students should wear uniform to campus. What make student different one to another among the university are only their kind of pin that embed in their shirt and also university symbol in their belt. Oh Lord, for me it’s been 2 years not wearing any kind of uniform since I enter the college. But in Thailand even you’ve graduate from high school, you should face couples of year to be attributed with uniform. 

The other thing is conference. The committee conducted the conference in Ministry of Foreign Affair Building of Thailand. The building was so nice, but the air con was too cold. But it was fun having this experience with various people among ASEAN country. We got message to tell to the world bout ASEAN COMMUNITY mission. It will be launched in 2015. The thing that we can do as ambassadors is make people consider to prepare about it. We are exited to do that. So banzai!!

Here are some of pictures in the conference. We got a lot of amazing speakers during the conference. Most of them are professor. Oh Rabb, Alhamdulillah. 

The Indonesian delegates

  When conference finally came to end

What a great building, tx it is documented

Just like what I said when in the conference, “we are all the seed in the world what we are doing right now is just one of treatment to let the seed grow and grow. We‘re watering the seed, giving it fertilizer and maintaining it along the process. And the best place to let the seed grow is on the earth. So we all gotta keep the world as best as it’s supposed to be.  And perhaps ASEAN Community can be the place for us to grow even bigger and bigger.” So I come to earth to do something to make it better places to let the seed grow. And we are all the delegates come to do so.

The best part of being in this city is not having a magnificent shopping experience nor is taking picture in mounted unique places in Bangkok, for me is meeting the other Muslim or the other Indonesian. What a wonderful wonderful thing to be, when someone greets me not with “Sawadeeka/krup” but with “Assalamualykumwrwb”. To be istiqomah in this city is kind of mountain I should climb. Second biggest populated of Thailand society is Muslim. So being a Muslim is not going to be as hard as places in Europe or other places. Just find some of the info, and rest you’ll be fine anyway. 

First if you wanna come by and have a pray come to CU, because this campus has prayer room. Not a big one but enough to let yourself drowning in God’s blesses. They even have Muslim Club, sound like GAMAIS in ITB. The member is around 300 students. They even can speak little Malay. And the best part is they will greet you with “Assalamualaykum”. Subhanallah. And you don’t have to be worry for having a wudhu, since they get lil spot to conduct wudhu. Here are some pictures of it. Oh I forget to mention the location of prayer room. It is located in the building that has center canteen in the 1st floor, the corner of 4th floor. Building doesn’t have any escalator or lift so you can have a bit exercise to climb the stairs up. 555! Go fighting to have pray.

  

Center canteen, 1st floor

The corridor of 4th floor, C’mon so close to room!!

Little spot in restroom for having wudhu

And finally the prayer room, and some of documentation of Muslim Club activity.

A prayer room for women book of their dakwah  seems like sharing book

Or if you have a chance to come by and visit Masjid, it is a must to visit. The masjid is located near Ratjadewi station, just turn left after you meet the intersection and ask people where the road 7 (in thaisoichet mean road 7). There’s a masjid, kind of the big one. I’ve been there once. It takes less than 1 hour to walk from my apartment. The masjid is so nice, there’s no place a lot safer than this place.

  

So I do believe that I come to Bangkok not for something coincidentally. God send me to here for certain reason that I need to figure out what it is. Therefore just life the life as it is. It is some of my life now; I’ll let you know the other part of them. Hope I don’t get any white screen syndrome again next week. See you again next episode. Later on I will tell you bout our ASEAN village; about Indonesia performance and how we ruled the game, bout some of my PERMITA friends, and also about amazing roadshow (a new way of teaching).

From the one who’s trying to live the life

Xoxo

yuyu

And history changes

====this is my second diary for having another story to tell during this journey. It’s actually made forcedly just because my friend asks me all the time. Bit annoying somehow, but just let it be. She asks politely anyway. ====

Let me start it with this sentence –“something is discovered or invented and history changes”

I believe that the dream is coming with absolute fullest of faith.

I don’t think I can share you a clear detail of my story in Bangkok. For me this city kind of place that drawn me more to think what I’ve to chase, what place I should go, and whose face I should make happy to. And the only answer is one, HOME (family).Later on it becomes a big deal that I consider the most. 

I did not do as much as other delegates do, if the thing that supposes to do is having tour and tour. I am not really fond of having a lot sightseeing or visiting shop to shop and consequently let your money drawn in other’s pocket, the shop seller. I did avoid any kind of type unnecessary transaction. Tight fisted, yes may be I am.

But I don’t care what other may think bout me. If they think I suffer a lot in loneliness just let them think so. Even if they think that I kind of weird or something just let think those so, too. I don’t get really bother bout that. I enjoy this journey with my own may. 

I met various faces and places with own way. Let me say that it is a bit different journey than what other did. And it is different. Yes, I didn’t gather a lot with other. And (still) YES, I mostly did all journey by my self. Without cab, without BTS or MRT, somehow just me and the bus or just me and my feet. I really love walking by myself in here, in this town, in Bangkok. Probably I’ve through thousands of steps, pass through hundreds of traffic light and pass by numerous unknown faces. 

Just one night before I had one of a kind experience I did through another new experience. Travel by boat in chaopraya river, watching transformer 3 in the other side of Bangkok, and seeing the glowing temple at night straight from the boat that took me home. What an amazing night to have. 

The glowing temple at night, documented from orange line boat by myself. n-i-c-e

When I discovered something new, kind of new perspective pop up in my mind and start creating a new way of think in my brain. After had had a second visit in Saint Gabriel, I walked to find a 505 bus stop that’ll lead me to Petchaburisoi 7 to have a rest in Masjid. I discover a new thing of that journey. I met some of people that I thought at the first time were the one who had a celebration around the temple. Just like what I have when I go back to home town just like kind of traditional ritual or something. But guess what, it wasn’t. It was a Thailand demonstration, one of the longest one and kinda a big one. They’d been there for about 5 months. Asking for some fair from recent government. I even had a chance to interview one of the women who fortunately able to speak English. She said all of previous prime ministers were so bad. As a result they conducted the demonstration to wake other people up –the other citizen, about this kind of thing. They did sleep near the temple. They did have a life near the temple. Under watched by monks and also the local police. They Made numbers of tent to sleep, create emergency kitchen therefore cooked and ate together.  What a name of togetherness. Seemed kind of pathetic for me. In the contrary I walked to have journey by myself, they did too much togetherness even in the middle of demonstration. They even asked me to have a lunch time together. Make a line to have a meal, and ate together with them. These people are just society that wanted to be heard. They came from various places, even far away from Bangkok. Thank God, for this coincident meeting I could get free meal from the demonstration. Here are some of pictures bout them. Tight fisted mission still can be done.

They made a line to have a meal

They built tents to have a sleep

They created place to make a share and talk

And yes just like any other demonstration. They were under watched by the local police.

This one of a kind experience woke me up about various things. Bout togetherness, about struggle of life and bout myself and my goal for this journey. Even they are demonstrator; they do still treat me nice. I do learn something from them. You got your way to do, and I got mine. And history will change anyway if you keep trying to do. Xoxo, badly typed from clueless of me.

Yunida's Exchange Stories in THAILAND

Life As It Is

Bangkok Journey

It’s been two weeks running to be one of Bangkok’s member societies, just say as if there’s certain member of that. What a wonderful place I’ve been living at. I live in heart beat of Thailand, Bangkok, when smile and wai are in every single corner of this city. I see various faces, dreams and expectation in here. I want the world know what I feel or what is popped up in my mind bout this nameless journey. But shame on me, it’s been two weeks and I still get nothing to share but white screen of Microsoft word on my laptop. Super blank.

I always want myself to become a writer someday. But instead of let my self write something, I just keep on pushing in places of blank appears. Well,I am not really good at creating diary, thought my chief delegates keep remembering me all the time to start making of mine but as she keep pushing me to do, as far I keep myself not to do so. 555! (inthai 5 = ha) What a word to say, make it simple, I start avoiding my self to do anything but spoiling myself in dark graveyard. I’m totally not acting as a productive one. I start to become lazy in Bangkok, pushing my books away and not read it well, or even just start tabbing the internet for unreasonable surfing. What are you doing Yuyu? I start questioning myself bout that. But now on, I start to make a compulsory of my story being in Bangkok for about 2 weeks, hope it’ll be something valuable not only for me but also for you, hope.

Start with our arrival on June 14 2011. What a wonderful experience having an arrival in one of kind airport, Suvarnabhumi Bangkok. You can see the differences between Indonesia Airport and this airport. Same international airport but taste so differently. Can you see that, our country needs a lot of improvement? Yeah we are bit left behind. But another shame that I gain, I forgot to take a picture of that. To let you see how different it is. What a shame. But I’ll let you know if I come back to Indonesia. Cross finger ^^v

  Before the plane took off from Indonesia’s airport, our beloved SoekarnoHatta airport, I and the other delegates took some of pictures to remind. See that we all were so exited to have a face to face meeting with magnificent Bangkok and other delegates from ASEAN member. Some of the picture somehow shows how immature we acted like.

I can see people have various expectation, hope and dreams bout this journey. Some even have planned to dare themselves bout anything, from travelling challenges or even something more extreme from this exquisite country. Like taste extreme food, shopping till drop in many places or just taking mounted of picture in every spot.But some of them are the kind who just let their live be. Just let it be and I am kind of one of them. The one who said just let all things be. I get not much dream to chase from this journey, not even to have travel experience in here. One thing I dream to see is only Masjid in Bangkok. Oh Rabb, I just dream to see You in Your home in this country, Thailand. Just it, and the rest just feel more like bonus from me. So start with this one-only-mission, I let the rest thing happen in my life flow through wherever it goes. 

Took off from Indonesia at almost 5pm with “everyone can fly” airlines. I am never afraid to fly. Suggestion from me for who afraid of having flight, Just take it as one of places that dare you more bouts high, just like one which you can see in DUFAN. The turbulence is just one of challenge that you should fight during your play, during the game. So instead of getting scared too much, I put my self in learning-thai language situation more. I borrowed my chief’s book to have something to write; later on it will be my pocket dictionary series of thai.  Some words that need to be learnt if you are in Bangkok. 

I copied all of the word to my lil dictionary

And all of thai word that I learnt, I put them in lil’ note that my friend gave me as a present. Here it is, a lil’ dictionary of mine. Not really good to be true but its fine anyway. It has saved me from series of lost in Bangkok. Newsflash, at least you should some of the word to greet people, say thank you and ask or give direction and one thing for sure is for your bargain moment. 

  

That’s my little purple dictionary. 

I didn’t take many pictures to show. I let it is documented with other lenses or I just keep it to be memorized in my own mind. You probably can see more picture of me in the other lenses of my fellows rather than in my own lenses one. 

Since I get super blank episode during my first two weeks in Bangkok, therefore I can’t show detail story that I’ve been trough. So I randomly pick those memories that I want you to know. 

I’ve through a lot of series story of joy, laugh, weird moment, loneliness and even tears. Start with my sick, having cough along the conference run or even losing my appetite since not really comfortable with the smell of the food. I barely just eat bread for about 3 days. I predict just because I don’t really like the smell from what the street vendor display in their booth along the way to go to my apartment. There are a lot street vendor with various dish and meal and also various smell to breath. Oh god, I don’t know which smell that contaminated me the most. But that’s already passed anyway; I find my appetite back since the day I can see “Halal” symbol embed in the store or on the cover of food. What a silly me, how come the smell distract the eyes to see something clearly. Thank Lord; you lead me the way to eat well. 

Before I had conference to go, all delegates from local committee of Chulalongkorn University (CU for short) were invited to come to their open house of CU’s student club. They’re having the recruitment session for the freshmen student. Seem like “OPEN HOUSE UNIT” in ITB. I could see many clubs are typically similar to what we have in Indonesia, especially in ITB. The clubs are distributed based on religion, talent, and interest. So pick one that you can enjoy the most. 

Here are some pictures that I can document during the event.

Inside The building

  

With some student in CU

Learn how to play Kecapi in Thailand version (nice ^^)

The thing that interests me the most during in the university is uniform. Yeah..All undergraduate students should wear uniform to campus. What make student different one to another among the university are only their kind of pin that embed in their shirt and also university symbol in their belt. Oh Lord, for me it’s been 2 years not wearing any kind of uniform since I enter the college. But in Thailand even you’ve graduate from high school, you should face couples of year to be attributed with uniform. 

The other thing is conference. The committee conducted the conference in Ministry of Foreign Affair Building of Thailand. The building was so nice, but the air con was too cold. But it was fun having this experience with various people among ASEAN country. We got message to tell to the world bout ASEAN COMMUNITY mission. It will be launched in 2015. The thing that we can do as ambassadors is make people consider to prepare about it. We are exited to do that. So banzai!!

Here are some of pictures in the conference. We got a lot of amazing speakers during the conference. Most of them are professor. Oh Rabb, Alhamdulillah. 

The Indonesian delegates

  When conference finally came to end

What a great building, tx it is documented

Just like what I said when in the conference, “we are all the seed in the world what we are doing right now is just one of treatment to let the seed grow and grow. We‘re watering the seed, giving it fertilizer and maintaining it along the process. And the best place to let the seed grow is on the earth. So we all gotta keep the world as best as it’s supposed to be.  And perhaps ASEAN Community can be the place for us to grow even bigger and bigger.” So I come to earth to do something to make it better places to let the seed grow. And we are all the delegates come to do so.

The best part of being in this city is not having a magnificent shopping experience nor is taking picture in mounted unique places in Bangkok, for me is meeting the other Muslim or the other Indonesian. What a wonderful wonderful thing to be, when someone greets me not with “Sawadeeka/krup” but with “Assalamualykumwrwb”. To be istiqomah in this city is kind of mountain I should climb. Second biggest populated of Thailand society is Muslim. So being a Muslim is not going to be as hard as places in Europe or other places. Just find some of the info, and rest you’ll be fine anyway. 

First if you wanna come by and have a pray come to CU, because this campus has prayer room. Not a big one but enough to let yourself drowning in God’s blesses. They even have Muslim Club, sound like GAMAIS in ITB. The member is around 300 students. They even can speak little Malay. And the best part is they will greet you with “Assalamualaykum”. Subhanallah. And you don’t have to be worry for having a wudhu, since they get lil spot to conduct wudhu. Here are some pictures of it. Oh I forget to mention the location of prayer room. It is located in the building that has center canteen in the 1st floor, the corner of 4th floor. Building doesn’t have any escalator or lift so you can have a bit exercise to climb the stairs up. 555! Go fighting to have pray.

  

Center canteen, 1st floor

The corridor of 4th floor, C’mon so close to room!!

Little spot in restroom for having wudhu

And finally the prayer room, and some of documentation of Muslim Club activity.

A prayer room for women book of their dakwah  seems like sharing book

Or if you have a chance to come by and visit Masjid, it is a must to visit. The masjid is located near Ratjadewi station, just turn left after you meet the intersection and ask people where the road 7 (in thaisoichet mean road 7). There’s a masjid, kind of the big one. I’ve been there once. It takes less than 1 hour to walk from my apartment. The masjid is so nice, there’s no place a lot safer than this place.

  

So I do believe that I come to Bangkok not for something coincidentally. God send me to here for certain reason that I need to figure out what it is. Therefore just life the life as it is. It is some of my life now; I’ll let you know the other part of them. Hope I don’t get any white screen syndrome again next week. See you again next episode. Later on I will tell you bout our ASEAN village; about Indonesia performance and how we ruled the game, bout some of my PERMITA friends, and also about amazing roadshow (a new way of teaching).

From the one who’s trying to live the life

Xoxo

yuyu

And history changes

====this is my second diary for having another story to tell during this journey. It’s actually made forcedly just because my friend asks me all the time. Bit annoying somehow, but just let it be. She asks politely anyway. ====

Let me start it with this sentence –“something is discovered or invented and history changes”

I believe that the dream is coming with absolute fullest of faith.

I don’t think I can share you a clear detail of my story in Bangkok. For me this city kind of place that drawn me more to think what I’ve to chase, what place I should go, and whose face I should make happy to. And the only answer is one, HOME (family).Later on it becomes a big deal that I consider the most. 

I did not do as much as other delegates do, if the thing that supposes to do is having tour and tour. I am not really fond of having a lot sightseeing or visiting shop to shop and consequently let your money drawn in other’s pocket, the shop seller. I did avoid any kind of type unnecessary transaction. Tight fisted, yes may be I am.

But I don’t care what other may think bout me. If they think I suffer a lot in loneliness just let them think so. Even if they think that I kind of weird or something just let think those so, too. I don’t get really bother bout that. I enjoy this journey with my own may. 

I met various faces and places with own way. Let me say that it is a bit different journey than what other did. And it is different. Yes, I didn’t gather a lot with other. And (still) YES, I mostly did all journey by my self. Without cab, without BTS or MRT, somehow just me and the bus or just me and my feet. I really love walking by myself in here, in this town, in Bangkok. Probably I’ve through thousands of steps, pass through hundreds of traffic light and pass by numerous unknown faces. 

Just one night before I had one of a kind experience I did through another new experience. Travel by boat in chaopraya river, watching transformer 3 in the other side of Bangkok, and seeing the glowing temple at night straight from the boat that took me home. What an amazing night to have. 

The glowing temple at night, documented from orange line boat by myself. n-i-c-e

When I discovered something new, kind of new perspective pop up in my mind and start creating a new way of think in my brain. After had had a second visit in Saint Gabriel, I walked to find a 505 bus stop that’ll lead me to Petchaburisoi 7 to have a rest in Masjid. I discover a new thing of that journey. I met some of people that I thought at the first time were the one who had a celebration around the temple. Just like what I have when I go back to home town just like kind of traditional ritual or something. But guess what, it wasn’t. It was a Thailand demonstration, one of the longest one and kinda a big one. They’d been there for about 5 months. Asking for some fair from recent government. I even had a chance to interview one of the women who fortunately able to speak English. She said all of previous prime ministers were so bad. As a result they conducted the demonstration to wake other people up –the other citizen, about this kind of thing. They did sleep near the temple. They did have a life near the temple. Under watched by monks and also the local police. They Made numbers of tent to sleep, create emergency kitchen therefore cooked and ate together.  What a name of togetherness. Seemed kind of pathetic for me. In the contrary I walked to have journey by myself, they did too much togetherness even in the middle of demonstration. They even asked me to have a lunch time together. Make a line to have a meal, and ate together with them. These people are just society that wanted to be heard. They came from various places, even far away from Bangkok. Thank God, for this coincident meeting I could get free meal from the demonstration. Here are some of pictures bout them. Tight fisted mission still can be done.

They made a line to have a meal

They built tents to have a sleep

They created place to make a share and talk

And yes just like any other demonstration. They were under watched by the local police.

This one of a kind experience woke me up about various things. Bout togetherness, about struggle of life and bout myself and my goal for this journey. Even they are demonstrator; they do still treat me nice. I do learn something from them. You got your way to do, and I got mine. And history will change anyway if you keep trying to do. Xoxo, badly typed from clueless of me.